


What is not Said

by Peril_in_Peace



Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: F/M, Spoilers, flashfic, inner monologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 08:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13713807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peril_in_Peace/pseuds/Peril_in_Peace
Summary: Okoye communicates the depths of W'kabi's betrayal on the battlefield.





	What is not Said

He says, “My love.”

W’kabi asks her, “Would you really kill me? ”

Her spear at the ready, she does not hesitate. “Without. Question.”

The words are few, but the message is deep and heavy. Her voice is low and labored, _pushed_ out; as a boat carried by the current, but floating too burdened, its prow scraping the silty bottom.

Okoye does not say, “ _My love._ ”

She does not ask, “ _Have you ever truly known me?”_

She does not weaken her stance or soften her gaze and wonder at him, “ _How can you invoke our love, our time together, and ask me to betray my country? Or expect me to spare you when you threaten it?”_

Okoye does not use his love for her against him.

She would not say, “ _My love, please follow me_ ,” or “ _If you loved me, you would surrender_.”

It would be beneath them both.

She grips her spear and holds herself as a Dora Milaje. As the King’s general. And she _shows_ W’kabi, “ _This is my loyalty. This is my duty. This is always the choice I will make_.”

She _shows_ him: “ _I am the King’s general ,_   _I_   command _the Dora Milaje,_ _because I am the finest warrior of Wakanda. The most resolute. Steadfast. She with the greatest depth of devotion and proof of commitment._

_It makes my heart ache that you rise against our country._

_But that you oppose_ me _in this moment?_

_If you know me, my love. How can you forget that if you and I are on different sides…_

_Your side is_ wrong.”

Her eyes narrow slightly, and she sees his hands tighten around the grip of his weapon.

She knows that he has heard these things. In the tone of her voice, the choice of her words. He has seen it in the tight, perfect readiness of her body, the set of her eyes. The tip of her spear.

She does not say she is relieved when he drops his sword.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This scene got to me in the movie. And I loved so much that this moment was not about one lover surrendering to another "because I love you," but a warrior being bested by another, if not entirely in combat, but by knowledge of reputation and commitment to the cause. Okoye is awesome.


End file.
